<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Pretty Little Things by zephsomething</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24395563">Pretty Little Things</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/zephsomething/pseuds/zephsomething'>zephsomething</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Surviving the War [40]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 03:33:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>708</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24395563</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/zephsomething/pseuds/zephsomething</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Fleur takes her girls for a walk.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Fleur Delacour/Bill Weasley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Surviving the War [40]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/813804</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Pretty Little Things</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I do not speak French, please forgive any bad grammar !</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The beach near shell cottage was a public one so it wasn’t unusual for there to be other people, both muggle and magical, on the beach when Fleur went out for walks with her daughters. Today the sky was blue, and a warm breeze traveled over the water to tug at their hair and clothes. The girls had picked out little floral sun dresses Hermione had bought for them, while Fleur herself wore sensible shorts and a t-shirt.</p><p>As they walked, she watched her girls. Victoire was just getting used to the limbs that had been rapidly growing over the last year. Occasionally she looked so much like Gabrielle Fleur had to remind herself not to put more on her daughter’s shoulders than she already had. Somehow, she doubted anyone would be able to live up to the standards her little sister set for herself. Dominique on the other hand already had a red tinge to her light hair and had been gaining freckles all summer.</p><p>The beach wasn’t crowded yet but it was getting there, each person they walked past looked up at them. In each of their eyes Fleur could see them thinking beauty, thinking grace. She could hear them talking to each other about lovely, pretty girls. Once she would have been offended but these days, she simply ignored them. It no longer mattered to her if random passersby thought of her as nothing more than a pretty face.</p><p>Victoire ran along the water line collecting shells, rocks, and the occasional sand dollar in her bucket. She ran them back and held them up for her mother to see with a grin full of pride. This time it was a little piece of sea glass, several shades of green. “Look mama, this one is like uncle’s eyes!”</p><p>“That it is mon chéri, just like uncle Harry’s eyes.” She nodded as Victoire tucked it into her bucket and took off for the water line again.</p><p>Then Dominique, who’d only figured out the whole walking alone thing at the beginning of the summer, knocked herself over trying to pick up a larger sea shell that Victoire had ignored. The thing was soft creams and pinks and as soon as Dominique got it out of the sand, she promptly tried to eat it.</p><p>“No, no, Dominique!” Fleur stepped closer and pulled the shell away from her mouth. “That’s not for eating, just for looking.”</p><p>“Mama.” Dominique tapped the shell along the sand instead and Fleur took that to mean she understood.</p><p>She stepped back again so she could see both Victoire and Dominique as they played and a lady came up to her. “Your girls are beautiful.”</p><p>“Thank you.” She smiled because it was supposed to be a compliment.</p><p>“You’ll have to watch out when they’re older, yeah?” The lady grinned like this was something obvious, like her daughters being beautiful would be something she had to protect or shame them for eventually. “Boys’ll be all over them, no doubt.”</p><p>Fleur let out a laugh that leaned far more towards dismissive than understanding. The lady’s face took on a harder look before Fleur could stop her laughter. “I will just have to teach them how to aim low.”</p><p>“Well I-” The lady sputtered for a few minutes but Fleur had already stepped away from her.</p><p>“Victoire, Dominique! Come now.” She held her hands out towards them. Victoire dropped the rock she’d been examining back into the water and came towards her.</p><p>“Yes mama?” She called out, stopping where Dominique was still sitting with the shell.</p><p>“Vite, vite mes chéries.” Fleur gestured back in the direction of the cottage. “It’s near time for lunch.”</p><p>“Lunch!” Victoire grinned and took off back down the beach as Dominique stood herself back up.</p><p>“Mama mama!” Dominique lifted her arms up as Fleur walked towards her, the shell still clutched in her hand.</p><p>“Yes, mon chéri, let’s go.” She scooped her littlest up on the way past and continued to ignore the noises of annoyance coming from the lady she’d left behind. One day she would have to teach her daughters about the particulars of their beauty, but that was far different from the things people insinuated every time they got the chance.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>